Stressed to the Max
by hpfan-513
Summary: Lily comes in from patrols one night to find James asleep in the common room. James has a lot on his mind and Lily tries to help. Rated T because of author's paranoia. I don't own anything familiar!


**Hey, guys! I'm posting a new oneshot! :D This one came to me when I was reading 'Boyfriend' by Molly Raesly on here. It's a brilliant story with epic sequels. It makes me laugh everytime I read it and I definitely recommend them if you're a fan of Lily/James! **

**For this story, I kind of had an epiphany, if you will, that James might get stressed out really bad and I thought, well, what a wonderful start for a new relationship between Lily and James. Also, I'm not sure of the age differences between Gwenog Jones and the marauders, but for the sake of the story, just ignore it. Another thing, Zarah is a completely made up character (not that she has an important role...) and I got the name from my mom's character on Skyrim... *le sigh***

**Anyway, happy reading, and please don't forget to review!**

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Lily stepped through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room. She had just finished patrols with one of the Ravenclaw prefects, Zarah, and had planned on finishing her Transfiguration essay before heading to bed.

It took her a second to realize that someone else was still in the common room; she had thought it would be empty. On closer inspection, she realized it was James Potter, the head boy to her head girl, fast asleep on her favorite armchair by the fire. James was the supposed 'leader' to the group of four marauders in Lily's year. Also, he was the boy who would not stop asking her out every day of every year from third year up until the start of this school year, their seventh year. At mid-January, she realized he hadn't asked her out once this year. In fact, one might even suggest them starting to become friends, a status completely different from the relationship before when the only time Lily would even look at Potter was when she was yelling at him.

She thought about waking him, but he looked too peaceful. His face looked slightly younger and innocent when he was asleep. His glasses were a tad askew, but Lily found it endearing. He had his Defense book opened across his chest as he lounged in the chair with his legs spread out in front of him.

Lily gently pulled his glasses off of his face and set them on the coffee table in front of the chair and sat in the chair beside him to finish her essay. Almost twenty minutes later, as Lily was just starting on her conclusion, she noticed James begin to stir.

He blearily opened his eyes and realized he didn't have his glasses on. He began to fumble around with his hands searching for them. "Where're my glasses?" He mumbled.

Lily smiled and grabbed the spectacles from the table and placed them in one of James' outstretched hands.

"Thanks." He put them on his face and blinked a few times to wake up more thoroughly. "Hey, Lily," he said. His voice was slightly rough from the sleep and it made Lily blink at the strange reaction it caused her heart to have. "How long have I been asleep?"

"I dunno. You were asleep when I came in a little while ago," Lily said.

He looked at her for a second before his eyes widened. "Did I miss patrols? I didn't mean to, I swear! It's just with Quidditch and my parents and school and the guys and-"

"James."

"Yeah?"

"I had patrols with Zarah. You're fine."

James took a deep, relieved breath. "Oh, good."

Lily studied James for a moment. She noted that he looked slightly stressed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

James snapped his head up. "Huh?"

"You look like crap."

James snorted. "Gee, thanks. Appreciate it, really."

"I meant that you looked like something is bothering you. Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I shouldn't burden others." James paused before continuing. What about you? Something bothering you? I've noticed you haven't been smiling much lately."

Lily frowned. "You noticed that? I guess I haven't really hid it well, have I?"

"No, not really. So, what's bothering you?" He nudged her arm and she looked up at him.

"It's just… My sister, have I told you about Petunia?"

James cocked his head confusedly. "You have a sister?"

"Oh, um, yeah." Lily blushed.

"Tell me about her."

"What is there to tell? Her name is Petunia. She's two years older than me. She's getting married. She doesn't want me at the wedding. Oh, did I mention she hates me?"

James flinched. "Ouch."

Lily smirked sarcastically. "Yeah, it stings a little."

"Why does she hate you?"

"Because I'm a 'freak'." Lily used air quotes to emphasize 'freak'.

"Do you think that about yourself?"

"No. Maybe. Sometimes." Lily shrugged.

"Lily, you are most assuredly not a freak."

She almost smiled. "I know. It's just… Sometimes I wish I were normal so I could have a normal relationship with my sister. One where I would be getting advice on boys, not notes telling me not to show my face at her wedding."

"Have you ever thought that maybe she's the freak?"

Lily jumped up in a fury. "James!"

James quickly scrambled to his feet before she could pull her wand. "I didn't mean it like that! I meant her as a freak for not loving the sister she has and being grateful that she has a little sister like you."

Lily took a deep breath before saying, "Better be careful, you're starting to sound like Severus."

"I'll go ahead and check it off my bucket list then. _Quote Snivellus to Lily-Check!" _He mimed writing something on a notepad.

"Be nice." She rolled her eyes as they both sat back down.

"Maybe."

She snorted and let a moment pass before responding with, "Your turn."

"What do you mean?" James asked leaning over to retrieve the Defense book he dropped when he stood up.

"I ranted at you. Your turn." Lily arched an eyebrow expectedly.

"Ehh, I don't know. Marauder's code and all." James began to fidget with his book, not looking Lily in the eyes.

"You guys have a code? Can I see it?" Lily nearly laughed at the grimace James had on his face.

"It's not been written yet. We haven't found the time. Plus, we don't want nosy people to read all of our rules."

"How does this classify as breaking the code? I'm a friend. You're allowed to talk to a friend, yeah?" Lily batted her eyelashes. Yeah, she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Well, yeah, I suppose." A slight flush could be seen on the back of James' neck.

Lily was silent for a moment before realizing that he wasn't talking without a little push. "I'm waiting."

"There's a lot to rant about. You sure?"

Lily snorted. "Hit me with your best shot."

"Well, alright.. I'll start with my parents. You know they're aurors, right?" Lily nodded and James stood and began to pace in front of the fireplace. "Well, they went off on this big mission right before Christmas and I haven't heard from them yet. There have been rumors of murders from the area they were supposed to be in and honestly? I'm scared I won't see them again and that the last conversation I had with them will be me getting angry because they are still going on dangerous missions like this and they definitely aren't the youngest aurors the ministry's got, nor the fastest. I guess I'm just afraid that they'll be caught and killed and I won't get to say goodbye. Then there are the boys. Sirius is fighting with his family again because his parents made Reg do something very horrible but he won't tell me what and he's been more distant than ever. Plus Remus is having troubles with his-er-mother's illness?"

"I know about Remus' furry little problem," Lily interrupted.

"Oh. Well, it's been getting really bad for him and he's having a hard time remembering that we still like him and all, even if he does have a little problem. Then Pete's been missing a lot lately. And every time we ask him about it, he shrugs it off claiming detention or studying, which is so unlike Pete because he never does anything to get detention without us, nor does he study unless Remus forces us all to. Then on top of that, Hestia went and broke her arm and we have a Quidditch match coming up and I haven't got a replacement chaser ready. Plus, we have N.E.W.T.s coming up and I've got to study hard for those because I really want to get into the auror training program, plus Dumbledore's been personally watching my activities and I'm completely frightened he's about to expel me for something or at the very least take away my badges, which brings me to Head Boy duties, which just add to the to-do list, not to mention all the homework the professors keep piling on." James finished and plopped himself on the floor at Lily's feet, laying on his back to look at the ceiling.

"Wow. I thought I had issues."

"I told you." James took his glasses off and roughly rubbed his face to wake him up. "Look, I'm sorry I dumped that all on you. You can just forget it."

Lily perked up, slightly offended and said, "What? No! James, look, I want to help!"

He sat up in surprise. "You do?"

Lily giggled at his expression. "Of course! I'll help as much as I can! I'll talk to Remus! I can help find a new chaser too! I think Gwenog can play, now that I think about it!"

"Gwenog Jones? The second year?" James slightly remembered her as the girl that tried out that year, but was too sick to even get on her broom, let alone fly. Apparently the girl had a serious case of the flu and couldn't make tryouts.

"Yes! I saw her on the pitch a while back, flying like there was no tomorrow! I heard that she's really kicking herself about being too sick to tryout this year."

"Really? I'll talk to her tomorrow." James made a point to talk to her at breakfast the next morning.

"As for Sirius and Peter, just give them time. I'm sure they'll come around eventually. After all, you guys are all so inseparable." Lily paused, lost in thought for a moment before saying, "If you want, we can start scheduling our patrols together and I can help with any homework help you need, not that you really need it. You're my only main competition for top of the class. Except in Transfiguration." She grumbled that last part, causing James to actually laugh.

"Yeah, you're absolutely rubbish at that class."

"I'm not that bad!" She pouted.

"Alrighty then. Whatever helps you sleep at night." James shrugged. He got up and sat back in the chair beside Lily again. "What about Dumbledore? What am I supposed to do about him?"

"Well, have you given him any reason to expel you lately?"

"No. I've been too preoccupied to come up with any pranks in the last few weeks. So have the other boys."

Lily nodded. "Then, I wouldn't worry about it. I actually think I know what it's about."

James' head snapped up to look at her face. "What do you mean?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone? Not even the other marauders?"

He paused, considering, before nodding vigorously. "Yeah."

"Dumbledore talked to me last week. He was doing the same to me." James looked shocked. "He's trying to recruit people to fight against You-Know-Who. He's calling it the Order of the Phoenix."

"Woah."

"Yeah."

"What did you tell him?" James asked.

"I told him I was going to join the second I finish school. My journalism career can wait."

James blinked. "And he wants me to join?"

"I'm thinking so. I mean, you're a powerful wizard. Dumbledore would be a fool not to try and recruit you. And the other marauders, too for that matter. Some of the pranks you guys pull include some pretty complicated magic. You'd have to be blind to not see that." They both blushed.

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you."

"I speak nothing but the truth. As for your parents- The only thing you can do is hope. Hope that they are strong and fast enough to protect themselves. Hope that they just got the wrong directions when they tried to come home and are now lost in America or something. I wish I could give you more on this, but it's all I can think of. It's what I have to do. When I think of my parents and Petunia out there, an open and defenseless target against him all because I'm muggleborn. It's horrible, but it's all we have."

They both pondered in the silence. "Why were you not sorted into Ravenclaw? You're so bloody smart and you always know the answer."

Lily laughed. "Thanks. I think. But then I wouldn't be here, now."

James snorted. "Thank Merlin you made it into Gryffindor."

They both directed their attention to the dwindling fire in front of them. They stayed that way for a while, just watching the fire in a comfortable silence before Lily let out a rather large yawn. "Well, I'm going to bed. We do still have classes tomorrow and I'm beat." She packed up her bag and stood from her chair.

"G'night, Lily." James kept his eyes on the fire as she walked to the stairs.

"Night, James." She looked over her shoulder as she reached the bottom of the stairs to the girls' dormitories. "Oh, and James?"

"Yeah?" He asked, turning his head to look at her.

"Thanks for talking to me. Maybe we should do it again over a butterbeer in Hogsmeade." She winked before running up the stairs.

James blinked. Did she just- Was he imagining that? _I must be dreaming._ He shook his head and gathered his stuff before heading up to his own dormitory and collapsing on his bed. He definitely felt a lot better than he did we he woke up that morning.


End file.
